A Comforting Touch
by Autobot Xena
Summary: Arcee and Bulkhead find themselves in quite the predicament during a mission. What is there to do? Oneshot, dedicated to NekoUsagi Luvr as a commission. Bulkcee. Enjoy!


This oneshot is dedicated to NekoUsagi Luvr, to whom I commissioned this story. I apologize (to everyone, for that matter) for the lack of chapters for On Leave, so for now you can read THIS! Neko, I hope you enjoy!

Arcee's POV

"No way."

The previously elated Miko deflated after she met these words. Bulkhead stood strongly over her, his arms crossed. I rolled my eyes impatiently as Miko began to throw a fit. Right now, human matters were the least of our issues.

Not far from base, an old Energon mine began to put out feedback like crazy. The only reason why such a stripped mine would suddenly yield energy would be if the Decepticons were experimenting with Synthetic Energon. If the 'cons got a hold of such an energy source, especially an unlimited one, that would spell trouble for us a hundred times over. In order to investigate the area, two of us would have to go scout, along with a human to get into the tight cracks. Jack was the immediate first choice, mostly because we could trust him to take care of himself. But of course, Miko wanted to come along for the ride. "Aww, why not? Bulkhead-"

"I said no. Miko, I'm not putting you down. There's just some missions where more soldiers means more responsibility. If you got lost or captured by a Decepticon, frag, a ROCK SLIDE-"

Miko sighed exasperatedly, "I KNOW you're worried, Bulk! Just give me a chance, I promise i won't get in the way!"

"That's not what I'm trying to tell you! Getting in the way is bad, but getting out of the way and not being able to find you is way worse. Look Miko, I'm not letting you go for your own safety! Can you understand that?" Bulkhead stared Miko down, his optics flashing from worry to anger to frustration. After a few moments of heated silence, Miko harrumphed and stormed away to the stairs. The hum of the bridge overtook the tension, and soon Bulkhead, Jack and I were on our way. We decided to walk through the bridge, to make sure that our entry was as quiet as possible. Even through the giant swirling vortex, I could hear Bulkhead sigh with regret and worry. Poor guy must be on the edge; a guy like him hated to argue. His specialty was better in the battlefield, rather than face-to-face with a spitfire teen.

As we exited the other end of the bridge, a sharp cold wind nearly slapped me across the face. I glanced at a hole in the ceiling of the mine (we were very close to the surface, as we planned to make our way down), whirling snow covering the edges. Jack shivered a bit, his breath clouding up in the temperatures. Bulkhead pulled out the signal handheld and, with a quick glance, motioned to a long hallway at the end of the room. And so we began our descent.

Bulkhead's POV

Tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. How deep would Decepticons go for Energon? The maze of hallways just never seemed to end. The weird thing was, the deeper we got the colder it got too. Small icicles were forming on the edges of my shoulders, and Arcee was sporting small icicles off of her cheek plates. After twenty minutes of walking, we came upon a fork in the road. The signal was so strong now I couldnt tell which way was the right one. "Why dont we split up?" Arcee suggested, pointing to the right passage, "I'll go this way, you take the left." Despite the pang of worry that we would be separated, I nodded in agreement. Arcee was and always had been the best strategist besides Optimus on the team. Arcee waved once before her and Jack made their way down. I closed my eyes and focused my concentration. You can do this. Slowly, I walked inside the passage. The walls suddenly changed, becoming smooth and glossy and dark blue. The Decepticons had drilled through a gigantic piece of Energon. I placed my hand against the wall, awed by the sheer amount of the stuff. The blue hue, reflecting my shoulder lights, glowed warmly as I stepped through. As I rested my hand, another suddenly appeared on the other side. Arcee, smiling, was also resting her hand on the Energon wall. Apparently she was also walking through a passage made of Energon. I continued walking, grateful to know that I could at least see Arcee. When I emerged from the hall, Arcee was waving the signal handheld around. "It's down here." She pointed to another entrance. I sighed on the inside. Great. Another couple hours of walking down these entrances. Silently, we began walking again. Before I entered the passage, a small rumble stopped me dead in my tracks. I slowly looked at Arcee, who stared back with equal shock. "Guys..." Jack warningly started. The walls began to shake, rock and Energon tumbling from the ceiling. "JACK!" Arcee lunged for the kid, only to be met with a large rock. In mere seconds, a giant wall of rock now separated us. Acree felt the wall, leaning her ear up against the rubble. "Jack? JACK?!"

Silence. Then, a small muffled yell. "Arcee! Bulkhead!" Then, a small scream completely new to the mix. An agitated voice suddenly screeched.

"MIKO?!

I deadpanned for a minute. So, Miko wouldn't listen. How did I not notice her company? For the loudest kid I know she sure can be quiet at times. An angry argument ensued on the other side of the wall. Arcee sighed, then slightly smiled. As she stood up, she felt for the signal handheld. "Where to?" Turning towards me, her face suddenly devoid itself of all humor. Slowly, I turned around to see what had caused her to react. Instead of a passage ahead of us, there was a wall. A solid, unbreakable wall. We were trapped, with nowhere to go, in freezing conditions.

Scrap.

Arcee's POV

Cold.

That's all I could think when I sat there, against the wall. In my days of ripping up asphalt in the warm Nevada desert I had completely forgotten what freezing conditions were like. My joints froze up, and I lost the motivation to move. To move was to lose energy, and energy was heat. Heat was life. Bulkhead wasn't faring any better than I was. As big of a guy he was, he wasn't doing any better at conserving heat. he rubbed his hands together, trying to use the friction to warm them up. Eventually we just resorted to huddling into balls and shivering. Each movement sent a chilling shock up my body, making me move even more. I grit my teeth as my limbs began to shake uncontrollably. Great. I should have known not to come to such a location. The first time this happened Optimus and I nearly died, buried under the freezing snow. Here, however, there was no chilling wind, no snow. There was only the chilling temperatures and the ice forming off of our own exhaust.

I glanced over at Bulkhead, who had become completely still within the last few minutes. The only thing that showed life was his slow blinking, his optics seemingly grinding against his will. Suddenly, he glanced over to me, his optics faint from lack of energy. Slowly, painfully, he began to stand up, his joints creaking and cracking with ice buildup. I could hear a rough groan from the exertion of the act. "Bulkhead?" I whispered, surprised at my own grittiness despite not talking for some time. Bulkhead shuffled over, and with painful slowness he held out his hand. "Come..here..." His vocal processor was cracking with static, an obvious sign of freezing over. I would have refused, but the look in his eyes prevented me to do so. He was gazing down at me with a contained sadness, but within his expression laid a quiet, noble resolution. I found myself taking his hand, the bulk of his covering mine by a majority. Out of nowhere, he pulled me towards him, his other hand wrapping around my back. With a clunk, he sat back down against the wall, taking me with him.

Hugging me. Bulkhead was bear-hugging me. His large, toned arms covered most of my body. A couple seconds after he settled down, an overwhelming sensation left me limp in his arms. A small wave of heat emitted from the mass, and seeped into my form. My cords, tense from the cold, began to relax as the heat flowed into me. Bulkhead began to shiver slightly, making me burrow into his form so I could share whatever heat I had. After thirty seconds of awkward, cold silence, I decided that now was the best time. "Why?" Bulkhead cleared his throat, the scratchy static nearly breaking my spark. "I thought...sharing heat...would help." Any more than a couple words at a time would leave him speechless, gasping as his sore processor would recover from the strain. "I don't...want...you to...die... because I...didn't...think to...try." I felt him increase his hold on me, enough to grant a few moments of extra warmth. I felt my vocal processor begin to scratch as I replied, "We aren't gonna die. Not here...not now." He merely shook his head, "Either way...I can't...I won't..." He stopped short when I ran my hand over his lips. "Stop Bulk...just stop." He only closed his eyes in weary frustration. The warmth we shared was now close to comfortable, and I began to feel my optics yearn for sleep. Bulk must have noticed, as he began to rock slightly. "Rest...you have to...regain...strength..." In normal situations, I would have once again refused. And once again, his tone stopped me. He was treating me like a sparkling, encouraging me to recharge. Before I could stop myself, I felt my optics drift into darkness, and against my will I soon sank into the world of the night.

And within this world of the night, I felt something incredibly foreign, though maybe once before in the distant past I was familiar to it. The enveloping warmth, my spark humming softly and comfortably within its chamber, and the altogether feeling of relief. I felt, for the first time in ages, safe. Bulkhead, this bumbling clumsy giant moron, could make me feel safe. His form was a protective shell, and inside it was a small reassurance that, inside here, nothing would kill you. Nothing would come at you with plasma blasters or sabers or anything. It was an impenetrable force. Bulkhead...why? Why would you go this far to protect me? Why?

In my thoughts, I already knew why. Inside, past the rough exterior, there lay a soft spot, reserved for no one else but me. I knew that he was partial to my company, despite his preference to team up with Bumblebee on missions, or Wheeljack when he was around. In times of conflict, he always was at my side, putting his own life on the line to help mine. Or anyone else's for that matter. He was always a rather selfless 'bot. I wondered if, looking into myself, could I ever be that selfless? The deaths of Tailgate and Cliff had brought me down to my knees, making me scrape for comfort, for excuses as to why things happened the way they did. I went full cycle, unbelieving to anger to depression and so forth. There were friends who tried to help me, but in the end I pushed them away, afraid to lose them as well and go through the same thing. Through this philosophy, a sudden strength began to grow. I can still change. There's still time left. I could never be truly forgetful of my dead comrades, but I can hold them close to my spark and not only move on, but move on with them. I can focus on my friends, my family, and my teammates with an open heart. No more immoveable rock, Arcee. You are going to fly. Until the end.

As the night went on, time began to speed up. When I awoke, I was surrounded by warmth, a welcome change. Ratchet was redirecting Energon inside my body, helping me sit up when he realized I was awake. As he operated on me, he explained everything that had happened. The kids had climbed all the way back up to the surface to get a cell signal, then called base to tell that we had been trapped. Wheeljack used some minor explosives to dishevel the rock wall, revealing Bulkhead and I curled up. They bought us back through a bridge, and we've been on recuperation ever since then. Both the kids were back at home with sicknesses due to the cold, so when I was finally allowed back up there was close to no one around. Optimus and Bumblebee went to finish the job (talk about embarrassing), while Ratchet tended to us. Finally, Ratchet looked pleased with his work, and left to go get some recharge. This left me completely alone with Bulkhead's sleeping form opposite to me.

Slowly, I shuffled myself to his side. He was breathing okay, his chest slowly falling and rising to promote the Energon distribution in his veins. What could I do to thank him? Because of me, he's still in the beginning stages of recuperation. After a while of thinking, I decided. Smoothly, I hovered over his face and kissed the top of his head. "Thank you," I whispered softly. Suddenly, I heard the bridge whirr with activity. Newfound strength within me, and a slight blush from what I had just done warming my faceplate, I exited the medbay to greet Optimus and Bumblebee. And from the operation table, the incredibly content Bulkhead murmured back, "Don't mention it."

This was actually my very first commission, so I hope it turned out alright. I had never done this kind of pairing before (surprising, how large the fandom is for it), so I really hope it was accurate. Neko, I am SO SORRY this turned out sooo late! I became busy with last minute stuff, and (being honest here) my lack of experience with this pair led me to some major writer's block. Either way, I really hope you and other's who read this enjoy!

*authors note* I apologize for the layout of the story when I first uploaded it, I really don't know why that happened. Anyway, If I update this and everything's back to normal that would be great. Thanks again for reading and I'm sorry for the inconvenience.


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